


Too Short to Ride

by glaciesdraco



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Amusement Parks, Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, Raijin Days, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:14:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27227125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glaciesdraco/pseuds/glaciesdraco
Summary: Izaya doesn't remember this, but he promised to take his sisters to an amusement park. Shizuo intends to make sure he holds up on that promise.
Relationships: Heiwajima Shizuo/Orihara Izaya, Orihara Izaya & Orihara Kururi & Orihara Mairu
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	Too Short to Ride

**Author's Note:**

> A fic that I spoke of probably a billion years ago and finally wrote, in my fluff self-indulgent little way. I got some good moments in which I liked a whole lot. I think this is my first fic featuring Mairu and Kururi? I honestly couldn't tell you.

“Fun land!” “’Land!”

“Fun land!” “’Land!”

There were two voices ringing in his ears that morning before Izaya had time to so much as sit up in bed. Without time for even a waking thought, he could feel himself scowling. Just as he did, the demonic voices in his head changed their chorus.

“Iza-nii! You’re taking us to Fun Land today!” “Promised!”

Izaya cracked an eye open- after all, he wouldn’t be able to pretend any longer. Then finally that waking thought did come to him; a thought which all eldest siblings would be able to relate to:

_I was an only child once._

“Get off me.”

“No!” Mairu, an 8-year old force to be reckoned with chirped loudly in his ear. “You promised us, you did you did you diiiid!” she shook his shoulders.

“Iza-nii!” Kururi clung to his arm as he sat up, squeezing it tightly in both of hers, staring up intently at him.

“It’s way too early for the two of you to be this noisy. And besides, you should never take adults by their word.”

Kururi let out a soft gasping noise, and Mairu quickly rose to her feet.

“Fine! If you don’t want to give us what we want, then you give us no further choice. We’re going to sell pictures of your sleeping face to whoever at your high school wants to blackmail you!”

“Blackmail.” Kururi whispered in his ear.

Izaya stood up from his bed and shook the both of them off, ignoring them as he stalked out of his bedroom and into the bathroom. The house was quiet aside from the AC, which was blowing at full blast it would seem, not that you could tell. He had awoken feeling like he was trapped in the pits of hell with two imps screeching in his ear. Even when he made it to the bathroom, he could hear them yelling threats at him. He heaved a sigh.

Summer had come very suddenly to Tokyo and with heat wave after heat wave overtaking the city, Izaya was finding less and less reasons to even go outside. With the versatility of the internet and all forms of indoor entertainment at his disposal he could see no reason he would need to venture out. Aside from, of course, his infernal seven-year-old sisters constantly demanding he take them to places that required guardians and of course, his officious boyfriend’s insistence that he needed to get some sun. Izaya was fine going out a time or two, if only to appease their unrelenting wrath, but he was growing tired of the heat and people watching simply wasn’t worth it from a park bench.

“Promised!” His sisters were yelling as he walked out of the bathroom from his shower, which had done nothing to cool him off. He walked by them as though they were nothing more than illusions, even when they started beating him on the back with their fists.

“Iza! Nii! You!! Promised!!” Mairu finally cried out, leaping onto his back and beating him over the head, her tiny eight-year-old fists; insistent, convincing him finally that she was real.

“Ugh, get off me already!” Izaya yelled removing Mairu like the clinging monkey she was. If they were anywhere but in the hallway he would’ve made the effort to dodge her but there was no real way to maneuver when there was two of them, “What the hell is so important about the theme park that you feel the need to scorch me with your little monster hands?”

“Roller coaster,” Kururi said simply.

“Absolutely not.” Izaya snapped at them, “You’re both probably too short. And besides, is that the one that has a sudden drop? Do you two really want to fly away and become angels?”

“You can’t instill your fears onto us Iza-nii! We’re stronger than you!”

“Stronger!”

“Aw well isn’t that nice. It’s too bad strength won’t keep you from dying a tragic death on a roller coaster.”

“Shut up!”

“Be quiet.”

They had a standoff there in the hallway, Izaya glaring between the two of them, while they earnestly looked upward at him, Mairu glaring and Kururi imploring him, taking him by the hand. Together they were a formidable foe, though Izaya barely considered them people.

A sudden knock on the door startled them all out of their raging war. Izaya straightened, knowing better than to keep Shizuo waiting. The last time the other had knocked more than once, the door had been knocked off its hinges.

Shizuo was dressed in street clothes, a white tank top under a flannel cardigan and some jeans. It had been so long since Izaya saw him in anything but a school uniform that he paused.

“Finally broke into the inside of your closet, eh?”

“Shut up. Why the hell aren’t you dressed yet?” Shizuo crossed his arms, his blonde hair radiant in the warm glow of the sun. Izaya squinted in the light.

“Dressed for what?”

“Promise!” Kururi called from behind him. He felt his own face betray him for his annoyance.

“You!! Promised!!” Mairu cried.

“Yeah you promised we’d all go to the amusement park today, remember?” Shizuo told him.

Izaya’s smirk disappeared.

“I’m beginning to think there’s an imposter somewhere trying to sabotage me.” He muttered.

They all sat down and had breakfast at the dining table as Shizuo and the twins recounted to him just how he had promised to take them all to the amusement park. Apparently, it had been earlier in the week when they’d been watching a movie together. Izaya recalled being nearly passed out from heat stroke and Shizuo had been massaging his shoulders where they ached from Mairu leaping on them hours before- even more reason for him to have been delirious with exhaustion and surely being taken advantage of.

“I figured we’d go have lunch there, hang out for a few hours, and come home to watch a movie. What do you think?”

“Hmm.” Izaya grumbled under his breath as he sipped his coffee. Mairu shot him a derisive glare.

“Iza-nii! You promised all of us! You can’t be that big of a scumbag to all three of us at once.”

“You’re underestimating me Mairu.” Izaya said placing his coffee cup back down and facing away from all of them. Shizuo tapped his foot under the table with his own foot.

“Come on. I thought you’d be excited to go and see a bunch of humans running around a theme park, throwing up all over each other.”

Izaya cast him a sidelong poutish glare. “Keep your assumptions to yourself. It’s hot outside.”

He heard Shizuo scoff, but then a hand was placed over his own laying on the table. Izaya hardened his defenses, but Shizuo did know just how to rub the back of his hand to give his arms goosebumps. Mairu and Kururi chose this moment to get up from their seats and scamper into the living room to talk about their plans for the amusement park.

“Come on Izaya, your sisters have been looking forward to this.”

“Oh please. They look forward to whatever mischief they can get themselves into. If you want family bonding so bad why don’t you go hang out with your brother? Your family is significantly less… unstable than this one.”

Shizuo kissed his hand. “I want to hang out with you.” He said softly. Izaya stiffened, keeping one eye closed to feign being unimpressed, but there was no point at all when he just _knew_ that his ears were turning red.

“I think being around me is making you a more manipulative person, Shizu-chan.”

“I’ll ride with them on the roller coaster if that’s what you’re worried about,” Shizuo said, ignoring his comment and pressing more kisses to his hand, “You can sit and watch humans in the shade.”

Izaya pouted some more.

“I’ll hold your hand in public,” Shizuo added, which… that would _definitely_ be a treat.

Izaya scoffed. “Why would I do something so embarrassing?” he demanded, and Shizuo’s eyes flashed with victory. Izaya glared, picking up his mug to down the rest of his coffee.

“If it starts raining, I am _not_ going back to make it up.” He said snappishly. In the living room he heard Mairu and Kururi cheering.

“Clear skies all day today!” Mairu said, “Not a chance in hell for rain!”

“Hell!” Kururi said with pleasure. Shizuo chided them about their language. Izaya despaired and tucked his head into the other’s shoulder.

No clouds meant no shade.

Mairu and Kururi squeezed between their handholding on the train to the amusement park, much to Izaya’s displeasure. Shizuo tried to make eye contact with him a few times, but Izaya didn’t feel like being coaxed anymore. Seeing Shizuo in such a good mood was weird enough as it was. He was scowling to himself thinking how he ended up being the person who was least in control of the situation when he felt a sharp tug in his hand.

“What?”

“I’m so excited, Iza-nii!” Mairu said, beaming at him, “Thank you for taking us!”

Izaya stared at her momentarily before glancing away. “Whatever gets you to stop kicking me in the face when I’m trying to sleep.”

“Oh really? I’ll remember that for the next time I want something from you, Big Brother!”

“If you do it again, I’ll tie your hands and legs to the dining table and make Kururi feed you all your meals.”

“That’s fine. I’ll just have Kuru torment you instead.”

“That’s fine if you both want to wake up at an adoption center tomorrow morning.”

“Mom and Dad would never let you do that! You can’t do that,” she shook his arm violently, “You can’t, you can’t, you can’t!”

“Alright, I’m only messing with you, now stop acting up.” He told her hastily, and he caught Shizuo’s glare. He knew what the other was thinking without having to hear it. _She’s only acting like that because of you._ But he really didn’t feel like being lectured, so he looked away as Mairu finally fell silent. Now their facial expressions all matched; it didn’t make Izaya feel any better, but he still thought it served them all right for ganging up on him.

“Will you stop pouting?” Shizuo sighed as they got their tickets, “It’s just a theme park. I think it would be kind of nice if you tried not to shit on everything right before we go in.”

Izaya cut him a nasty glare. “ _I’m_ not doing anything. They’re the ones being brattish.”

“They’re kids,” Shizuo gave him a skeptical glare, but Izaya scoffed.

“So that means they’re excused from all their crimes? How convenient.”

“Can you act your age? You’re siblings, so you should try to get along.”

Izaya rolled his eyes. “Typical lecture from someone who worships his brother like a god.”

“I do not. And your sisters look up to you a lot, so you should try not to upset them.”

“Shizu-chan,” Izaya sighed, “Shut up and leave me alone.”

He heard Shizuo’s long suffering sigh, but the other walked a few steps ahead of him to keep up with the twins, who were now ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the medieval decorum. The entrance was an intricate stone gate made of industrial plastic which had been painted over to look fancy, and the walkway was decorated like a draw bridge. Old-timey English music was playing in the distance and the smell of carnival food filled the air. Izaya wondered if maybe he was hungry.

“Alright so where are we going first?” Shizuo asked the twins. They both lit up.

“Dungeon!” they yelled in unison. Izaya glared at them suspiciously.

“I thought you wanted to ride the roller coaster. Is it underground?” Shizuo asked apparently sharing Izaya’s suspicions.

“Yeah!” they both cried without skipping a beat. Izaya stepped forward.

“We’re not going anywhere before we get food. Let me find a map.”

He felt Shizuo’s eyes on him as he walked off. He couldn’t stand the scrutiny he felt sometimes from the other, but at the same time he probably wouldn’t be able to bear it if Shizuo stopped watching his every move. It was his eternal curse.

“Alright,” Izaya sighed, looking at the pamphlet he’d picked up which unfolded into a map of the park, while having a list of all the different restaurants and services on the back. “There’s a place we can get hamburgers not too far from here, there’s takoyaki, yakisoba, and a sushi restaurant on the other side of the fucking planet…”

“Is there a place to get dango?” Shizuo asked.

“Yep. It’s in the middle of the park.”

“Whatever’s fastest!” Mairu said desperately, “I wanna go to the dungeon!”

“Don’t be so loud.” Izaya told her.

“Hamburgers then?” Shizuo suggested, and when he met Izaya’s stare, he faltered. “Or… or maybe the Takoyaki place?”

“Takoyaki.” Kururi repeated softly.

“Takoyaki? Alright let’s go.” Izaya said dismissively, and without missing a beat, grabbed Kururi’s hand and walked onward. Mairu and Shizuo hung back for a second to watch them before exchanging looks of equal bewilderment and following them.

Izaya navigated them through the somewhat complicated layout of the park. None of the food places were close to each other, and there seemed to be more gift shops than anything. Mairu was interested in going in one place that looked like a witch’s hut, but Izaya told her to wait till after they ate. Kururi held onto him as they walked, tugging on his one hand with both of hers. When he looked over to check that she wasn’t straining to walk, she met his stare blankly to which he rolled his eyes.

“Stop being so creepy, Kururi. You should smile since you got what you wanted.”

“Happy?” Kururi inquired, and Izaya scoffed.

“You’re asking if _I’m_ happy? Of course I’m not happy, I got roped into this. But we’re here now and I get to see all these human relationships running around together I suppose.” Though he hadn’t really been able to focus on it since he was trying to get his sisters and Shizuo from one place to the other.

“Date.” she stated. Izaya glanced over at Shizuo who was trailing behind them with Mairu in his arms.

“It’s not really a good date having to babysit the two of you now is it?” he asked, “Besides, I made him mad.”

Kururi gave his arm a tug. “Stubborn.”

Izaya laughed for the first time since their arrival. “Yeah…” he sighed, “I know.”

The Takoyaki place was fairly busy, but they got their food out relatively quick and they managed to find a place that was shaded. Izaya lectured his sisters about being loud even if they were outside. When he looked over beside him, he found Shizuo smiling at him, curling his pinky around Izaya’s own with his hand resting on the table.

“Feeling less shitty now?” he asked quietly. Izaya shrugged. “I know this kinda day trip is stressful for you, so I’m sorry if I was harsh earlier.”

Izaya sipped his tea. “It’s fine,” he said quietly. “You were right. I was being silly. After all, this is the exact type of place I should enjoy. Lots of humans, silly gimmicks… and I can even entertain Mairu and Kururi without losing an eye.”

“It _is_ hot though,” Shizuo noted and Izaya sighed in agreement.

One other benefit which Izaya did not voice was getting to be here with Shizuo, on a date regardless of the fact they were babysitting. He curled his pinky tightly against Shizuo’s, like they were making a silent pinky swear. Shizuo didn’t squeeze back for obvious reasons.

“Why did you want to come so bad anyway?” Izaya asked him. “Were you that hungry for crepes, or…?”

“Sorta,” Shizuo admitted, “I mostly just thought that going to an amusement park with you was a date that we ought to have; and if we don’t have the excuse of having your sisters with us, when would we actually go?”

Izaya laughed. “I forget what a hopeless romantic you are sometimes.”

Shizuo mumbled noncommittally. They were completely holding hands now, and Izaya’s soft smile was genuine.

“Shizuo,” Mairu whined, “My Takoyaki is really spicy.”

“They must’ve made a mistake in your order,” Izaya said, ignoring the fact that she’d been talking to Shizuo, “Just eat the rest of mine.” He pushed it towards her, internally praising himself for getting the plain flavor. Shizuo was brushing his thumb over his hand in a way that was comforting, and suddenly he didn’t mind being there at all, even with his two sisters doing there best to be as much of a nuisance as they could manage.

“Full.” Kururi said, also looking at Shizuo. Izaya regarded her plate, which was barely touched.

“Do you not like Takoyaki, Kururi?” he asked with an annoyed tone. “You’re the one who wanted to get it, but you’ve eaten less than Mairu has.”

Kururi furrowed her eyebrows. “Flavor.”

“You don’t like the flavor? I told you to go with the sweet options or a plain flavor, and now you’ve wasted all this food.”

“Here, try mine.” Shizuo offered, getting between them before Izaya’s eye started twitching. He pushed the remainder of his plate towards Kururi who took one and tentatively bit into it instead of placing the whole thing in her mouth, looking nervous. She chewed it with a grimace on her face, but after she swallowed it she put the remainder of it in her mouth and relaxed her face.

“Thank the heavens.” Izaya said sarcastically, and Shizuo lifted his hand to give it a little kiss. Izaya didn’t meet his eyes.

“You two are gross.” Mairu said, and Kururi hummed in agreement as they both chewed on Izaya and Shizuo’s remaining food. Izaya gave them a withering glance before he looked out at the crowd for the first time. His hustling bustling humans… running around an amusement park. Though he couldn’t really say he was observing them when he was here doing exactly what they were doing too. Doing things like this always made him feel so self-conscious for some reason; as though letting the world see him acting like a human was some sort of internal error.

When they were finally done eating, though they both complained again about wanting to go to the dungeon, Izaya had them walk off their lunch by going to that store Mairu had been interested in, which turned out to be an incense and crystal shop. Mairu wanted to get a rather intricate looking leather journal, which made Kururi want one, so Izaya promised they’d come back later. This time, the twins insisted on going together and holding hands wherever they went, which Izaya found embarrassing. It wasn’t like he had gone to great lengths to try to separate them from each other, but he was beginning to think that the codependency was getting out of hand. He was so busy thinking about that he didn’t even pay much attention to the unusual man running the store other than that he felt they ought to leave since he kept leering at his sisters and Shizuo was slowly coming to a boil over it.

“Can we go to the dungeon now?” Mairu asked eagerly.

“Hold on,” Izaya said, releasing Shizuo’s hand so he could get out the map and unfold it. “It says this ‘Nefaris’ Forbidden Dungeon’ is on the other side of the park. We might as well find something to ride around here.”

“But!” Mairu complained.

“But.” Kururi pouted.

“We’ll still get to it, but we might as well ride some of these other attractions. After all,” he shot them both a dubious look. “Who knows when I’ll bring you back here after I find out whatever type of secret’s in this place that you two lied to me about?”

They both blinked at him innocently in unison, and he felt nothing but disgust.

“Does this place have the Teacups?” Shizuo asked, “Spinning Teacups are fun, right?”

The Orihara siblings gave him an equally bewildered look.

“Of all things…” Izaya muttered, “Yes, it’s not far from here. Let’s get water first though.”

They bought four large bottles of water and used the restroom before the headed towards the Teacup Attraction in what the park named the Ballroom Area of the park. The ride was relatively deserted, but the four of them had to get into a teacup together anyway because Mairu and Kururi were still young.

“This doesn’t bode well for your roller coaster dreams,” he sang to them as they sat down on the other side of Shizuo opposite to him. “If you’re both too young to ride, you’re not coming back until you’re old enough to go by yourselves.”

“Don’t say that.” Shizuo chided him. Mairu stuck her tongue out at him.

“Shizuo will ride with us! Won’t you Shizuo?”

“Yeah, I said I would.”

“Shame on you both,” Izaya said, “Taking advantage of your brother’s boyfriend and asking him to do favors for you. I don’t know where you both learned such rude behavior.”

“Shut up!” Mairu said, “It’s your fault for being such a useless brother.”

“Well now, if I’m so useless then I guess we should just go home huh?”

“Stop it,” Shizuo said, “I’m already annoyed from that stupid guy, can you please go back to getting along?”

“Iza-nii started it!” Mairu declared.

“Instigator.” Kururi agreed.

Izaya didn’t respond, turning away and opting out from acknowledging the conversation. Shizuo pushed him a little with his shoulder, to which he ignored. The ride started then, and soon they were moving. The teacup boats spun in circles around the large teapot, and some of the teacups with people in them were spinning. Izaya looked out in front of him and realized that the round table in front of them was supposed to act as the knob.

“Shizuo spin it!” Mairu was cheering, accompanied by Kururi’s “Spin, spin!” cheer. Izaya didn’t say anything.

“I dunno, isn’t it nice just like this?” Shizuo asked, looking to Izaya for his opinion to which the other shrugged. He wasn’t really sure what to do. Didn’t people use both aspects of the spinning to enjoy the ride? This was one of the many things about humans that Izaya understood in theory, but never really perceived the appeal of.

“Spin, spin, spin, spin!” Kururi continued, grating Izaya’s last nerve. Finally he sighed.

“Just give it one good spin, Shizu-chan.” He said, trying to convey his growing annoyance with a glance. Shizuo nodded like he understood. He leaned forward and grasped the knob. It was a little rusted and grated against the floor when it was slightly jostled, but for Shizuo Heiwajima it gave little consequence when he gave it a sharp tug counterclockwise.

Izaya felt instant regret.

They span like a wonder wheel, continuous and unyielding for the next forty-five seconds. For the remainder of the ride, Izaya had to hold his head in his hands and willed himself not to look up or risk tossing his lunch. The twins were laughing like the imps they were.

“That was more fun than I thought!” Mairu declared as they exited the ride. “I’d love to go again!”

“But dungeon.” Kururi said, though she seemed just as pleased by the ride.

“Let your brother rest for a second, it made him dizzy.” Shizuo was saying. They sat down at a nearby bench and Izaya nursed his head where it had started to hurt terribly. Mairu and Kururi wandered a little way away to look at the carnival games.

“I’m sorry,” Shizuo was telling him, holding his water bottle up to his face, “I didn’t think I put that much strength into it.”

“Even ‘not much’ of your anything is too much,” Izaya sighed, but he looked up with a weak smirk and took the bottle from him, “Trust me, I know.”

Shizuo sighed, and pet him on the head, apparently reading the expression on his face and catching his meaning.

“If you’re feeling good enough to make inappropriate jokes, then you’re probably not too sick.”

“Oh, you should never assess my well-being based on that.” Izaya warned him with a playful glint in his eye.

“Can we go to the dungeon now?” Mairu asked as they reapproached, Kururi carrying a stuffed animal in tow. Apparently, they had brought their own money. Izaya scowled at it; just what they needed.

“We’re renting a locker,” he told them as he eased himself to his feet, “To put that piece of trash you just got away.”

Kururi frowned, but Mairu was beaming.

“Well, there’s lockers near the dungeon!”

“Can we please just go to the stupid dungeon, so I don’t have to hear about it anymore?” Shizuo asked, “I’m beginning to think you two only wanted to come for that.”

“Yes!” they both exclaimed instantly, and Shizuo’s eyebrows rose skeptically.

“Then it’s definitely not a roller coaster, huh?” he said, looking at Izaya who met his glare perceptively.

“We’ve both known that the entire time,” he sighed, “Alright, let’s go already.”

“Nope,” Shizuo said flatly. Izaya had his palm to his face, too distracted by his headache and annoyance to say anything. “We’re not going down there.”

“BOO Shizuo, you said you’d go with us!”

“I said I’d ride a roller coaster with you. This,” he gestured to the entrance of the dungeon, “Is for adults.”

Izaya uncovered his face and once again glanced over the sign. “18+ horror-themed roller coaster for couples. High speed by an evil demon through the palace dungeons! Children discretion is highly advised.”

“Permission.” Kururi pointed out the moment Izaya’s eyes ran over it. He gave her a skeptical glance.

“We’re not giving you permission to ride on a scary ass ride that might give you both nightmares,” Shizuo said, the vein in his forehead pulsating as though he were annoyed to even be asked. What did he expect from Izaya’s sisters? They did nothing but cause trouble.

“But there’s a rumor that the track drops halfway through!” Mairu said excitedly, “We wanna see!”

“Then come here when you’re older. Your brother was right; we shouldn’t have even brought you guys if you were just gonna demand to do the stuff you aren’t supposed to. There’s like five other roller coasters to choose from.”

“But this one’s 4D!” Mairu exclaimed.

“Exciting!” Kururi added.

“It is quite torturous that they’d make a roller coaster with a movie in it exclusively for adults. Sucks to be so young sometimes I suppose.” Izaya remarked with a dry laugh, looking at the advertised pictures with scrutiny. The “demon” depicted on the posters wasn’t really that scary aside from the loincloth at its groin which barely covered anything. He snorted in amusement. “You both know that technically Shizu-chan and I can’t go in either? My birthday is still a few weeks away.”

“That’s an excuse if I’ve ever heard one!” Mairu exclaimed.

“We don’t need an excuse,” Shizuo said flatly, “It looks annoying anyway. I want to punch that thing.”

He indicated to the demon in the picture and Izaya gave a little smirk.

“Really Shizu-chan? I was just thinking he looks like your type.”

Shizuo stared blankly at him. “Did you just call yourself an ugly monster?”

“They should make Izanii be the monster in the next scary ride!” Mairu cheered. Kururi cheered her agreement, and Izaya glared down at both of them.

“Wow and there I was getting excited at the idea of going on the ride with Shizu-chan. Too bad for both of you.”

“No!” They both wailed. Shizuo pointed looked at them.

“I’m not getting on that thing,” he repeated. “End of story.”

Izaya shrugged. “You heard the man. Let’s go find a different roller coaster for you two to wail in.”

The twins continued to pout, but they seemed to realize the finality in the decision since Shizuo was the one who spoke. They cast remorseful looks back at their precious ride before following along, their bottom lips poking out.

Izaya held onto Shizuo’s arm with one hand and his head with the other. He could feel one of the twins grasping at his shirt as they allowed themselves to be pulled along, or maybe they were trying to exacerbate their obvious disappointment. He didn’t speak to them.

“Okay, so where is the closest roller coaster? I wanna buy my crepe and get the hell out of here.” Shizuo said and Izaya lifted his head so he could pull the map out of his pocket. He studied it delicately as his vision blurred a little bit.

“Stop for a second.” He mumbled and used Shizuo’s shoulder as a stabilizer for his head as he skimmed over the map. He noted the mini guide in the corner of the page which told him the names of all the roller coasters in the park, which were named something equally as stupid as ‘Nefaris’. He looked for the closest one.

“Let’s ride… The Medusa’s Salon,” Izaya said with barely a second thought since his head still hurt pretty badly. Mairu and Kururi cheered behind him.

“Yay! Let’s go!” she yelled charging ahead, so Izaya had to stand up straight and follow after her so he could lead her in the right direction.

“Alright here’s the line,” Izaya announced, “You three have fun.”

They all stared at him as he stepped back, Mairu and Kururi grasping onto the same one of Shizuo’s hands.

“But you said you were riding, Iza-nii.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Did.”

“No I didn’t!”

“You did.” Shizuo had the audacity to agree with them and Izaya huffed.

“Well I lied again! My head hurts, there’s no way I’m getting on that thing.” Izaya made a point of holding onto his head where it was still spinning a bit, but not a lot. He saw his sisters exchange a look with Shizuo and shrug.

“Suit yourself,” Shizuo agreed. “We’ll be back soon. Enjoy your creepy people watching.”

He leaned forward and nudged their foreheads together in lieu of a kiss. Izaya’s sisters gagged.

“Take care!” Izaya called before turning around and finding the nearest deserted bench hidden in some greenery.

It was barely ten minutes later when Shizuo, with Mairu and Kururi in tow, turned the corner and found him. He looked up at them curiously.

“Oh? I knew the line moved fast, but not that fast.”

“The seats are two-seaters and Kuru-nii and I can’t sit by ourselves.” Mairu pouted. “Iza-nii you have to ride so that Kuru-nii can sit with you.”

“Shizuo.” Kururi corrected her, squeezing Shizuo’s hand. Mairu looked affronted.

“What?! _I_ have to ride with Izanii? You don’t love me!” Mairu exclaimed.

“I hate _both_ of you,” Izaya snapped, “We’ll just find a roller coaster that sits three or more people at a time.”

“I already asked.” Shizuo told him. “There’s like one roller coaster that sits four people and it’s another one of those adults-only rides.”

“What the fuck is wrong with this place?” Izaya sighed, massaging his scalp viciously, “I thought it was supposed to be for kids.”

“This place sucks,” Shizuo agreed, “Let’s just go.”

“No no no!” “No!” The twins whined, the start of tears welling in their eyes. Izaya cast a baleful look at them. He looked between them and Shizuo and heaved a sigh.

“We all knew this was bound to happen to me today anyway. Come on, Mairu.”

Mairu and Kururi exchanged looks of equal bewilderment. “Really Izanii?” Mairu gushed.

“Come _on_ Mairu,” Izaya snapped and he looked up to glare at Shizuo, “And I don’t wanna hear you say _anything_. One word about what a good brother I am, and we’re leaving.”

“I wouldn’t dream of calling you a good brother,” Shizuo said blandly, taking Kururi’s hand and following behind them.

The man at the gate seemed a bit skeptical of them when they first approached, inquiring on the twins’ age and weight, but Izaya assured him that they were just chubby for their age and wouldn’t fly off. Mairu bounced on the balls of her feet as he spoke and held his hand tightly as they walked into their place in line.

“You’re so cool, Izanii!”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she affirmed, giving his arm a hug like this morning, “When you’re not being an asshole, you’re actually really helpful.”

“Clever.” Kururi added. Izaya cast a look at Shizuo behind him and the other’s eyes were wandering around at all the scenery. There was a strange glint in his eyes though, a glint that Izaya recognized all too well. He waited till Shizuo’s eyes wandered down and met his to which Izaya smirked. Shizuo stared at him blankly.

“And you Shizu-chan? Do you have a compliment for me?”

Shizuo obviously knew what he was trying to do, gave him a skeptical look and shrugged. “You were kind of flirty with that guy I thought.”

“Oh dear. Did I make you jealous?”

“By all means, have him take you. He’ll realize his mistake soon enough.”

Izaya gave him an affronted glare and that’s when Shizuo finally smirked. He reached forward and tapped at Izaya’s free hand which was hanging at his side.

They held hands as they got in separate lines. In parallel, or more likely just because they wanted to, so did the twins. They crouched below the metal pipes that divided the lines and whispered amongst themselves. Izaya didn’t care enough to chide them, watching Shizuo’s features and trying his best to distract Shizuo from the annoying crowd of people around them. It was a bit hard though when he kept hearing so many interesting conversations.

“He’s messing around with _whose_ sister? Isn’t she a middle schooler?!”

“Oh God, I’m gonna piss my pants! How much longer do we have to…?”

“Moooooom Shoji cut in line!”

Shizuo’s eyebrow was twitching. Even though he was good at zoning out in crowded places, he still couldn’t help but listening so Izaya always ended up babbling to distract him.

“There’s a crepe place on the way out so we can stop by and get as many crepes as you want.”

“Yeah sounds good.”

Izaya made a show of looking around. “Aren’t these decorations atrocious? What a stupid theme and name for a ride.”

The walls of the shelter where people boarded the ride were decorated and painted to look like a hair salon. Rattlesnake rattles were depicted as hair accessories on a cartoon mannequin. The music was somewhere between a pop song and a carnival game.

“Yeah, it all kinda pisses me off.” Shizuo admitted. “Dunno what I was thinking wanting to bring us here.”

“You just wanted to do something nice for my sisters,” Izaya murmured, “You know this isn’t our type of place.”

“True,” Shizuo agreed, “Our brand of bullshit is just a little more real than this fake shit.”

Izaya grinned, tightening their hold on each other’s hands.

Somebody behind them squealed and Shizuo cringed, the vein in his temple throbbing maddeningly. Izaya rubbed his thumb over the back of Shizuo’s hand like the other had done for him this morning. This seemed to calm him as he turned back towards Izaya as he had been.

“How’s your head?”

“Oh, it hurts. I’ll live though.”

“I’m kinda proud of you, you know? For giving in and letting your sisters do this?”

Izaya frowned. “What did I say about patronizing me?”

“I’m not.”

Izaya glared, but then he shrugged. “Now they can’t say I never do anything for them.”

They then turned their attentions back on the mysterious twins, who were still whispering among themselves, crawling on the ground when they moved up in line. Shizuo and Izaya exchanged equally knowing looks and glare down suspiciously at them.

“Is there any reason why you two are getting filthy and murmuring to yourselves? Do you have to go to the bathroom? Or did you get that tired that quickly?”

They both stood up straight and grinned at him. “Nope!” “No.” they both chirped.

Izaya narrowed his eyes. “Now I know I taught you how to lie better than that.”

Mairu stuck her tongue out at him. “You know Izanii, you’re probably gonna get really sick on this ride.”

“Puke.” Kururi taunted.

Izaya smirked darkly. “Oh, you think so? We shouldn’t ride then.”

“It’s too late to chicken out!” Mairu declared, crossing her arms.

“Bluff.” Kururi agreed.

Izaya scoffed at them, turning away towards the front of the line. He realized that they were next in line and took a breath. Suddenly it occurred to him that he was about to ride a manmade monstrosity and he hadn’t even considered the implications. He had been too wrapped up in everything else to focus on the fact that he was about to be swung around like a rag doll through the air in indeterminate loops and spins that humans found fun for some inexplicable reason. His heart rate sped up and his palms grew sweaty. He didn’t turn towards the others because he didn’t want them to realize how affected he had become. He swallowed, trying to breathe normally when he felt Mairu grab onto his hand. He flinched.

“Here it comes!” she cooed as the cart pulled back into the shelter, at an ungodly speed at first, but then it was stopped by the quick work of the internal brakes. The humans on board were all smiling and laughing like they’d had the time of their lives. That was good right? Why didn’t Izaya feel reassured?

“Hey,” Shizuo’s voice pulled him out of his weird stupor. He turned and the other had his hand and was kissing his knuckles. “If you flew off, you know I’d rip that stupid machine apart to catch you, right?”

Izaya stared as he let out a loud exhale. He scoffed and rolled his eyes, turning away so he could stop his blush from showing. “Yeah I know.”

Mairu and Kururi were making fun of him now, but they also were trying to get Shizuo to say he’d do the same for them too. Jealous brats, Izaya thought.

Izaya helped Mairu into her seat and he watched Shizuo struggling with the buckles on Kururi’s. He whipped around to the seat behind him to quickly do it for him followed by a murmured thanks. Mairu made fun of him some more for that (“I knew you wouldn’t let us fly off Izanii!”). He scowled and sat back into his own seat, buckling his seatbelt and staring straight ahead of him. For this entire day, he had barely observed any humans at all and yet he felt oddly light. He had found that a lot of his dates with Shizuo felt this way, and every day he felt more and more satisfied with his life.

Maybe he would puke after all.

The roller coaster ride felt like being inside of a saltshaker but worse. It was a much more extreme version of the teacups ride only Shizuo wasn’t beside him for Izaya to dig his nails into his arm. Mairu was screaming beside him, with delight or terror he didn’t know nor care, as he was just staring off in horror at the heights before him, which only gave him a brief moment of shock before he was plunged into the endless air below. He recalled the rollercoaster that the twins had wanted to ride and considered that his sisters must have been quite demented to want to ride on a roller coaster in the darkness whose tracks dropped suddenly. He prayed that Shizuo didn’t tear the ride open from gripping the cart too hard, but a small part of him wanted Shizuo to tear this thing limb from limb to get him out of there.

It stuck to its theme for the most part, as they rode along the coils of Medusa’s “hair”, though he thought it was a bit off topic for their cart to end up plowing face first into a giant size depiction of the Greek monster’s head. Izaya felt his stomach flip as they looped another three times coming out of the last tunnel before they finally whipped back under the entrance shelter. Only then did his mind finally quiet down.

Mairu was gushing beside him and he heard the sound of steam being released to indicate to the passengers that their seat belts were no longer locked. He slowly sat forward and unhooked it before turning to undo his sister’s. He must have taken longer than he realized because Shizuo and Kururi were standing on the other side whenever he turned to look for them. Shizuo looked wary.

“That fucking sucked,” he muttered as Izaya walked up to them. “I thought I was gonna bust that that thing like a tin can.”

“Be glad you didn’t,” Izaya muttered before he started for the exit. As he rounded the first corner, he immediately spotted a trash can which he leaned forward into and emptied his lunch without missing a beat. He heard his sisters’ senseless chatter, but Shizuo’s was the only voice he could really concentrate on. It was the only one he’d been able to concentrate on all day.

The next time he decided to lift his head, he felt a cool water bottle against his forehead. Shizuo was carrying him on his back as they continued to walk through the park towards the exit. The twins kept stopping for detours and Shizuo was too preoccupied making sure Izaya was still conscious to stop them. Izaya looked up and smiled weakly.

“It’s hot.”

“Yeah,” Shizuo agreed, a ghost of a smile on his lips, “Is that really what you’re gonna say after puking up your guts from a roller coaster?”

Izaya rested his chin on Shizuo’s shoulder and shrugged. “My sisters already called it after all.”

“They’re turning into you the way they’re always predicting stuff before it comes true,” he said, and Izaya hummed with relief when Shizuo pressed the water bottle to his head again. “They’re a couple of monsters, you know?”

“Nothing like _my_ monster.” Izaya said, giving his neck an affectionate squeeze.

“Hm. Funny how getting a little sick all of a sudden makes you so ready to cuddle up.” Shizuo remarked before exclaiming, “OY you two, get off of that thing.”

Izaya tenderly massaged his ear. “Ow. Don’t be so loud. And I’ve been nothing but nice to you all day.”

“Uh huh. At least we’re finally getting out of here though, jeez.”

“Mm.” Izaya hummed his assent before putting his head back down. It was so much easier to hide in Shizuo’s shoulder than to talk aimlessly.

“Are we still stopping for crepes?” Mairu called from a distance away. He heard Shizuo mutter ‘seriously?’ under his breath.

“You see this incapacitated backpack on my back, right? We should just go.”

“No fair! Izanii, you ruin everything!”

“I simply can’t win.” Izaya sighed. Shizuo copied him.

“Your brother’s done enough for you guys today. Let’s just head back to the entrance.”

“Boo, no fair!” “Killjoy.”

“I don’t mind,” Izaya murmured, “Just go get crepes and then we’ll leave. It’s fine.”

“…are you sure?” Shizuo asked in bewilderment. Izaya chuckled.

“Might as well take all the beatings I’m going to get at once today, right?”

Izaya didn’t like sweets, but he knew Shizuo did. Shizuo nibbled on his banana and chocolate flavored crepe wrapped in wax paper as they walked back up the hill towards the exit. He’d variate offering Izaya a bite, which Izaya would take only because Shizuo offered. They were small bites too, since he was still feeling sick. Mairu and Kururi were chatting amicably amongst themselves close by, excited because they had also coerced their way into stopping inside that annoying store to purchase their souvenirs. Izaya felt unsteady on his feet as he went to pay, but Shizuo caught onto it and pulled him back onto his back the moment they stepped out. He had to stand on his feet for the train ride home though, and he stared off into space rather than at the humans. Shizuo held him upright and the twins clung to either of his legs.

Once they were in the home stretch of getting home, with his crepe long gone, Shizuo carried Izaya back to their house like a bride. Mairu and Kururi pouted, but they ran ahead and had left the door open to their house by the time they turned the corner. Izaya really didn’t have the energy to chide them about letting the air out, but Shizuo did it for him. He smiled to himself as he was brought to his room and placed gently on his bed. Shizuo said something about ordering a pizza just before he began drifting off. Later, he felt the bed sag beside him and he cracked an eye open as Shizuo slid in beside him.

“Hey,” he said, his hand sliding its way up Izaya’s side, “You feeling any better?”

“Oh, I’m feeling dreadful.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Izaya cracked an eye open, “I might feel better if you’d hold me though.”

Shizuo looked at him and smiled dryly. “You’re impossible.”

Still though, in less than ten seconds Izaya found himself wrapped in those same strong arms which had carried him home. He grinned to himself.

“Your sisters are watching a movie, so I think they’re distracted for a while.”

“Mm. Thank you for all your help.” Izaya professed softly. “I would’ve surely been decapitated by now.”

Shizuo hummed his agreement. “They’re at your level of giving others a hard time, but there’s two of them.”

“Hmph. Don’t make them sound like they’re better than me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Since they _are_ distracted though,” Izaya said, reaching to Shizuo’s face and cupping his cheek, “Can I finally have you all to myself?”

“Yeah, I guess…” Shizuo said, closing one of his eyes as Izaya pressed kisses to his cheek. “I’m surprised you’re in such a good mood though. Wasn’t today a lot for you?”

“Oh, today sucked.” Izaya agreed, “But I enjoy the pampering I get out of it.”

Shizuo sighed, “Yeah, I guess I should apologize, huh? You were right. That wasn’t our type of place at all.”

“Still though, isn’t it nice for that park to know that it was graced with our presence?” Izaya licked along his jaw and nuzzled against the side of his face before biting down on his ear. “And we even did them the courtesy of not destroying anything of theirs.”

“Not for lack of trying,” Shizuo said dryly. “Seriously. What kind of moron was I, promising your sisters that I’d ride a roller coaster with them? One clenched fist and the whole ride would’ve gone tumbling to the ground.”

“You were beside yourself with wanting to go on a romantic date with me.”

Shizuo scoffed. “Yeah, that was it.”

“We survived the day,” Izaya announced, as though Shizuo might not know already. “And now I demand the hard-earned attention I deserve.”

“You do, do you?” Shizuo smiled, leaning forward so that his mouth was also against Izaya’s ear and he murmured into it as he kissed along the other’s jaw. “I think I can make that happen.”

With their amusement park excursion out of the way and the twins thoroughly distracted, which was their own way of thanking their brother and his boyfriend, Izaya and Shizuo hid under the covers and let the world wash away. All their focus was now, of their own desires, on each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I've got a busy month ahead of me with grad school atm. So ready to be done! My boys are really helping me get through it.


End file.
